A prayer after the school shootings

This was the prayer I offered during this morning's worship service at Central Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE...

Gracious, Loving, Compassionate, Grieving, Hope-giving God; we come to you this day, and we bring to you everything that we are, everything that we are feeling.  We bring to you our sense of outrage.  We bring to you our despair.  We bring to you our unanswered and ultimately unanswerable questions.  We bring to you our compassion for those who have suffered loss… and especially for those who have had the lives of loved ones ripped away from them.  No words are adequate, O Lord.  So we simply bring ourselves here, and open ourselves to an awareness of your presence.  Remind us, gracious God, that there is no place where you are not present.  You are in the midst of our times of joy, gratitude, and celebration.  You are in our midst in our times of our doubts, questions, and despair.  You are with us in our times of anger, frustration, and helplessness.

Throughout human history, you have stood with your people.  You were with Adam and Eve, and even with Cain, after the murder of Abel.  You were with the Hebrew people during their enslavement in Egypt.  You stood by the Jews when they were taken into Exile in Babylon and other places.  You were with early Christians who were tortured and martyred for the Faith.  You were with innocent Arab Christians who were killed during the Crusades.  You marched with the millions who were sent to prison camps and to their deaths by the Nazis.  You are with Palestinian Christians who are caught in the struggle between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims.  You are with the congregation in Pennsylvania… with those who grieve in Oregon… with those who grieve in Connecticut… with all who suffer and grieve this day.

Remind us, loving God, that you never, ever abandon us… despite how we sometimes feel.  You are faithful to us, even when we are faithless to you.  You love us, even when we do not feel loving towards others.  You grant us peace, even when we are most in turmoil.  You birth hope within us, even when we most despair.

As we mark the observance of your birth in Jesus, be born anew in us… this day, and every day.  Hear these and all of our prayers, gracious and compassionate and loving God; for we offer them, our lives, our fears, our hopes, our entire world to you, in the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Lord.  Amen.